Kareshi Toshishitakei

Edit

This manga is a compilation of 3 one-shots.

1st One-Shot (Kareshi Toshishitakei) : Ai (13 years old) and Sou (10 years old) are childhood friends...Then Sou has to leave for America, forced by his father. 5 years later, the two of them meet again, but Sou is different from who he was before...

2nd One-Shot (Gyakuten Valentine): Mizuki is a tomboyish girl and the guys don't really consider her has a girl. What happen when Mizuki is being confessed by her kouhai Johnny-kun?

3rd One-Shot (Kimi ga Hajimete): Haruka is a playboy and Inoue is secretly a voice-actress. When Haruka discovers her secret, the two get ... closer...

--------------

STORY (6)
In general, One-Shots are always too short, and rushed.

1st One-Shot (3 chapters)
+ It's rare to see this kind of romance (A male younger than the female lead)
+/- It could of been really good if it wouldn't be so short and 'rushed'.
- Every event goes too fast and you can't really 'enjoy' the story itself.

2nd One-Shot (1 Chapter)
+/- Interesting story but kinda cliché
- Too short and rushed

3rd One-Shot (1 Chapter) (My least favourite)
- Cliché
- Too short/ Fast/ Rushed

ART (9)
In general, nothing bad to say about it. I like that kind of drawings and the characters were easily recognisable. The only bad point is that in the second one-shot, Johnny(2) looks like Sou(1) I know it's hard to make characters look different at some point but I think the author could of done better on this guy. Nothing bad to say about Ai, Mizuki, Haruka and Inoue (they all look different)

CHARACTERS (7)

1st One-Shot
I really liked Sou and Ai, even if Ai lacked personality, Sou really did have a character development. And together, I think they were really cute and fitting.

2nd One-Shot
Mizuki was my favourite character, she was strong and tomboyish but she really had an interesting personality. Under her cover, she really wants to be cute but she has a complex, which makes her really relatable. Johnny was too much like Sou, I couldn't really enjoy him has much as Mizuki. But in the end, they were really cute together.

3rd One-Shot
Inoue was really annoying and Haruka was just not lovable. Even in the end, I didn't like both of them. They were not fitting and I just hated their personalities. Too cliché...

ENJOYMENT (7)

1st One-Shot
My favourite of all (since there was an interesting story, a bit character development, less rushed than the others one-shots, etc.) My only regret is that it was too short.

2nd One-Shot
My second favourite one...The story wasn't too cliché and I really liked Mizuki. Strong females are always fun to read.

3rd One-Shot
Least favourite...I really didn't like it. Too cliché, was just about to throw up when the story ended.

OVERALL (7)

Even if there is some good point, I have to count every bad point too, and for 3 different stories. Which makes it really difficult. I think the first 2 stories are worth to read, if you have free time. And I recommend the 3rd story only to those who really enjoy clichés and annoying characters.

Hopefully this review helped ^^

Kareshi Toshitakei... Where do I even start with this? This manga is only 5 chapters long, and you shouldn't expect much from most romance manga, but... gosh, this manga is one of the worst I have read.

STORY: 3/10: Poor. This is a romance manga, so it's basically the standard "My childhood friend is coming back from who-knows-where"... I walked into this not expecting much, and that's what I got... there was absolutely nothing special about the story. In fact, it's incomprehensible and impossible to understand.

ART: 6/10: Fair. The art is here and there, and it follows the basic romance manga style. It improves a ... bit by the final chapter.

CHARACTER: 2/10: Dreadful. These characters are shallow, even for romance manga. The first few chapters focus on the lead female, Ai, who has no personality whatsoever and constantly runs away crying as Sou, her male counterpart, is constantly sexually harassing her. After that, it devolves into a couple one-shots with other characters who, before their respective chapters, were unmentioned.

ENJOYMENT: 3/10: Poor. Honestly, there isn't anything particularly enjoyable about this manga.

And there you have it, folks. This manga is simply pathetic and unreadable. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except those who want to see just how bad it is. I'd even go as far as to say that I wish I could rate it lower.